Holi: Hindu festival of color and love
The cloudy weather this past weekend could not dampen the celebration of the Hindu religious festival of Holi, a celebration of color and love.
The event was held on the college green outside of Seegers Union on Friday, Apr. 7 and was open for the public to attend. The campus Bollywood dance club, Top Naach, hosted the event, which was co-sponsored by the Asian Student Association, the Chapel, and the Multicultural Center. This is the third year that the campus has celebrated Holi in the spring.
The activities provided at the event included henna tattoos and nail painting by the Pre-Dental Club, a guess-the- drink game, and a colored paint powder station. At the end of the event, students threw cups of powdered paint on one another, which exploded into a concoction of rainbow colored smoke on the lawn. Students had fun throwing paint around and making each other look like a rainbow.
Food and beverages were provided on the green, which included water, mango lassis and samosas. Lassis are traditional Indian beverages made from yogurt, water, spices and fruit.
The celebration of Holi did not end after the event. As a bonus to the festivities, the dining hall had a full-fledged Indian menu, which included vegetable pakoras, chicken tikka masala, pulao rice with peas, and dal makhani. Magellans served the Hindu-themed meal.
Students were given a free shirt at the event, which was designed by the Walz dorm residential advisors staff.
Besides the activities, there were student performances from the MINT hip-hop dance group, the Chaimonics, Girls Next Door, and Top Naach itself. When there were no performances, Bollywood and Bhangra music were played during the event.
The holiday of Holi is celebrated for two days in Nepal and India. The date of the festival of Holi varies each year. This year, it was celebrated on March 12-13. Besides the celebration of colors, Holi is celebrated to signify the transition from winter to spring. On the first day of the festival of Holi, a fire is lit to symbolize good defeating evil, and on the second day colored powder and colored water are thrown at those attending the festival. On campus, the second day was the only one celebrated during last week’s event.
“We usually go to the temple where there are performances and color-throwing afterwards,” said Nupur Reddy ’19, president of Top Naach and one of the organizers for the event.
The celebrations of Holi begin after the day of the bonfire, on which people dance and sing around the fire. The second day is devoted entirely to partying, and people throw colored paint powder mixed with water at each other. The colors turmeric, neem, dhak, and kumkum are traditionally used, but nowadays it is more common to use commercially colored paint. It is a common tradition for children to throw water balloons at people during the festival as well.
The day after the second day of Holi, people clean the colored paint off of themselves and meet with their friends and family in the evening to give desserts to one another. Holi is also a holiday of forgiveness, and aims at creating peace and harmony.
“The event was a wonderful way for Hindu students to express their culture and for non-Hindu students to understand more about customs they may not have been familiar with,” said Paul Alonso ’20.
More information on the Holi festival can be found at http://www.holifestival.org/tradition-of-holi.html.